Gilead Sciences’ Anti-Viral Drug Remdesivir Offers Rare Hope for Coronavirus Pandemic

CNN Business is reporting that Gilead Sciences may have a viable coronavirus treatment in the works:

Shares of American biotech firm Gilead Sciences rose nearly 5% Monday after an official from the World Health Organization said that Gilead’s drug remdesivir is showing signs that it may be able to help treat the deadly coronavirus.

Gilead Sciences (GILD) was the second-best performing stock in the S&P 500 and was just one of two stocks in the Nasdaq-100 that was trading higher on Monday, when the Dow plunged more than 1,000 points due to fears about the disease spreading to Italy, South Korea and Iran.

“There is only one drug right now that we think may have real efficacy and that’s remdesivir,” Bruce Aylward, an assistant director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said at a press conference in Beijing.

WHO officials added that clinical trials for remdesivir in humans are now taking place and results could be available within weeks.